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Relative Color Contrast Drives Competition in Early Exogenous Orienting
Author(s) -
Dannemiller James L.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
infancy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.361
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1532-7078
pISSN - 1525-0008
DOI - 10.1207/s15327078in0303_1
Subject(s) - psychology , stimulus (psychology) , competition (biology) , contrast (vision) , color contrast , visual field , cognitive psychology , communication , object (grammar) , artificial intelligence , computer science , neuroscience , ecology , biology
Young infants typically orient to a moving object, but the strength of this tendency depends on what else is in the visual field, with some objects competing for attention more effectively than others. This competition was studied in 3.5‐month‐old infants by manipulating the colors and spatial distributions of static elements that appeared with a small moving probe. The hypothesis was that the competition from these static bars would depend on their color contrasts. Three different color pairings were used: red with green, pink with green, and red with pink. The results were generally consistent with the hypothesis that the competition from static elements in the visual field depends on their color contrasts. Orienting at 3.5 months is determined by competition mechanisms that weight motion and color and most probably other stimulus characteristics to produce a directional response.